


Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death

by ThatLoneAvenger379



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22855204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatLoneAvenger379/pseuds/ThatLoneAvenger379
Summary: Mike Harper returns to his home city of County Dame, reuniting him with his friends and the love of his life after having survived two hellish years in the desert. But despite how desperately he longs to return to a life of normalcy, how can he hope to escape the ghosts of his past when they somehow keep finding their way back to him...?





	Yu-Gi-Oh! Mark of Death

**Chapter 1: "Return"**

**Opening Theme: "Raining" by Art Of Dying**

**Ending Theme: "Behind Blue Eyes" by Limp Bizkit**

* * *

Morning sunlight shone across the lively city of County Dame, casting a warmth upon it that brightened the hearts of the students of Dexterity High School.

They could not wait for their vacation to start in the coming June, the thought bringing smiles to their faces as they stepped off their buses onto the concrete sidewalk before their educational institution. The building stood four stories high near the center of the city, a modest, concrete-built facility with a spacious front courtyard decorated with potted plants, benches, and tiled walkways.

Among the numerous students hanging about in the courtyard that morning, three teens stood talking between themselves by the school's front double-doors, as was their usual morning ritual before their first block started.

"I just think it's ridiculous that Mr. Carnell expected us to have every President's name memorized in one night," the one male standing among the three complained as he slid his skateboard back and forth across the walkway with his foot.

The Senior-year student's long, black hair was slicked back and tied in a ponytail, preventing it from covering his dark-brown eyes. Black stubble was scattered across his chin. His attire consisted of a red hoodie with cut-off sleeves over a black t-shirt, jeans with rips in the knees, and red and white converses. He stood at 5'11", and was eighteen years old.

The girl beside him shook her head at his complaint. "Oh come on, Danny. You can't spend one night memorizing a few names?" she said with an inquisitive glance, bemused by her friend's lack of enthusiasm for academic achievement.

Her brown hair was cut to her shoulders, and her black-rimmed glasses emboldened the emerald of her eyes. She wore a casual gray dress, with bracelets on both of her wrists, and black slip-on shoes. She was younger than them all—only seventeen years old in her Junior year, and stood at 5'8".

"A _few?_ " The teen named Danny glanced at the brunette. "Look, Marina; I get and respect that you're an A-plus student and all, but some of us have better things to do than dedicate all our free time to memorizing the names of a buncha dead guys!"

"Because skateboarding, video games, and Mountain Dew are _way_ better hobbies to spend your time on," the girl named Marina retorted. "Right."

"They're not just 'hobbies,' it's a glorious lifestyle!"

As the two embarked on their latest bickering match, the third girl between them seemed to have shied away from the conversation. Her long black hair was accentuated with shades of purple near the bottom, reaching a fair length down her back, and her bangs were long enough in the front to hide her silver eyes. Under her black and gray hoodie she wore a black t-shirt that barely passed over the waistline of her skinny jeans, and her feet were adorned with black and white-checkered shoes. Like Danny, she too was an eighteen-year-old Senior, and stood at 5'9".

There was no sign of life in her eyes. She had turned her head in an attempt to keep her friends from noticing her dismal expression, but it wasn't long before Danny and Marina took notice of her body language, prompting them to halt their argument. "What's wrong, Violet?" Marina asked.

The teen named Violet brought her eyes back to her friends. "Are you serious?" she asked after a moment of pause, unable to restrain her disheartened tone. "Do you not _remember_ what today is?"

Marina's face quickly lit with realization as she remembered the significance of the date, before turning sullen as well. Danny, however, blinked obliviously. "Uh... anyone wanna fill me in on what I'm missing here?"

A tear began falling down Violet's face before she jerked her head away from her friends' line of sight again. Marina shot the ponytailed teen a cross glance, to which he responded with an innocent shrug. She grabbed him by his hoodie and pulled him a few feet away so that Violet was out of earshot before reminding him: "It's been two years since the day _Mike_ disappeared, remember?"

Not a millisecond passed before Danny's eyes widened. He'd first met Mike Harper in the sixth grade while he was being harassed by his longtime bully, Josiah Sullivan. It had been Mike's first day in their class and out of nowhere, he'd decided to stand up for Danny by challenging Josiah to a match in the world-renowned card-battling game of Duel Monsters. And not only had Mike won that duel, prompting Josiah to finally leave Danny alone, but in that moment, he'd become the latter's best friend.

He would soon come to meet Violet through him and Marina through her about a year later, during the seventh grade. And throughout the years they spent together as friends, he and Mike would continue to fend off the assaults of Josiah and his cronies from the junior football team. But no matter how many times he'd strived to improve himself as a duelist, Danny had never been able to compare to Mike, who was always the one to keep Josiah at bay.

But near the end of his sophomore year, Mike had neglected to show up for school one day, leaving the three spending half that day wondering where he was. Then, without warning, the three of them had been called to the principal's office only to be told that his bed at the orphanage had been found empty that morning.

The news had left the three friends devastated. Though an investigation was launched, the only conclusion the police could draw was that he'd fled the orphanage under cover of night, with the intent of escaping the dreary conditions he'd been subjected to by the abusive nuns who ran the facility. Though the friends took umbrage with this explanation, as they had never once heard of Mike contemplating running away, even with how cruelly the nuns at the orphanage treated him and the other kids.

After six months had passed with no other information or leads, the case was eventually dropped from active status. And by the time a year had passed, everybody in County Dame had given up hope of ever finding the apparent runaway, presuming him to be dead.

As the last bus drove off from the school grounds, Danny and Marina could hear Violet softly crying to herself nearby, each sob tugging at their heartstrings as they recalled the grief they had each suffered through over the years.

"Man..." Danny said in a low voice as he leaned against the school wall. "Hard to believe it's already been two years."

"Yeah," Marina muttered back. "I can't even imagine how Violet must be feeling."

Danny gave a short nod before glancing at his crying friend. Much as he and Mike had been best friends, he and Violet had both known each other long before they'd met Danny and Marina in middle school—back when they were just infants.

Mike's parents, before their untimely deaths, had been close friends with Violet's widowed father before they were born. And though the two of them had never openly spoken about it to each other, there was no question in either Danny or Marina's mind that the two had always carried strong feelings for each other. So when Marina said she couldn't imagine how Violet was feeling, she was absolutely right: neither of them had suffered the same kind of depression Violet had been thrown into after Mike's disappearance.

"Well, what do we have here?"

Danny and Marina turned to the origin of the sudden voice: coming towards them was Josiah Sullivan, leading his usual pack of three other jocks. He wore a blue and silver varsity jacket over a white muscle shirt, with light jeans above white and blue sneakers. He was 20 years old and stood at 6'0", sporting a light-blue and white duel disk on his left arm. His sandy hair was cut military-style, and his icy-blue eyes were full of malicious glee. The group behind him were each dressed similarly, wearing the same blue and silver jacket as well as backwards-facing hats of matching design.

Danny rolled his eyes at the approaching gang. "Get bent, Josiah," he said with a scowl. "Don't you have a freshman to go give a swirly or something?"

Josiah laughed Danny's words off. "Aw, sounds like someone's having a rough day!" he said mockingly. "Why could _that_ be, I wonder?"

He and his followers proceeded to mimic thinking about something by cupping their chins with their hands, using their other hand to support their elbows. They stood like this for a moment before Josiah snapped his fingers in fake realization. "Oh yeah! Today makes two years to the day since your _friend_ up and disappeared on you, doesn't it?"

Danny glared at the bully, while Marina seemed to shrink behind him as Josiah went on: "Some 'friend' he was, huh? Going off without so much as a goodbye; almost like he didn't give a damn about any of you!"

Both Danny and Marina heard Violet choking on her tears, as though they were starting to force their way out of her.

Danny stood up straight, his eyes hardening as they met the bully's. "I mean it, Josiah. Piss off."

"Oh..." Josiah retorted. "Was that supposed to be a threat? Did you just threaten me?"

Danny readied himself to raise his fists, but he was too slow: Josiah's hand had already reached his shoulder, shoving him against the school's wall and pinning him there. "Looks like you forgot to bring your duel disk today," Josiah said as he pressed his hand into Danny's skinny frame. "Guess we're gonna have to settle this the old-fashioned hard way."

Around them, the other students were avoiding looking towards the confrontation, not wanting to get near a fight with Josiah and his gang. This left Marina on her own to cower as she helplessly watched Danny, whose teeth grit as regret set into him. Usually, he would've allowed Josiah to humiliate him in a duel if it meant he would leave them alone afterwards. But physically, Danny was a stick in comparison to Josiah's bulky build, which always spelled an afternoon of icing bruises on days where he was unable to duel. And today, it looked like that was exactly how things were about to go...

"Stop!"

Danny and Marina turned with wide eyes to watch as Violet finally stepped forward. Though her eyes remained red and swollen, the sadness on her face had been replaced with a fierce glower.

Surprise spread across Josiah's face, though it quickly returned to its condescending smirk. "Well, well; I'm surprised to see _you_ here," he said. "I figured you were going to take the day off to cry about how your 'friend' abandoned you, like you did last year."

His words shook her, but she continued inching closer to him. "Just let him go, Josiah."

Instead, Josiah scrunched the hand pinning Danny to the school into a fist, digging his fingers into him to elicit a pained grunt from him. "I don't think so," he said, looking at the black-haired teen in his grasp. "He needs to be taught a lesson... about respecting his _superiors_."

Then, without warning, Josiah's knee shot up to land a hard blow into Danny's gut, earning sputtered gasps from the latter as his eyes shot open with pain. Marina could only wince as she looked away, before Danny was released from Josiah's grasp, letting him fall side-first onto his skateboard as he moaned.

"P-prick..." Danny managed to utter as he glared up at his longtime bully.

Josiah's evil grin only broadened. "What was that?" he asked. "Sounds to me like you just asked for more!"

He raised his foot again, readying himself to stomp down on Danny's defenseless form. As he did, Violet's stride towards him picked up. "I said _stop!_ "

Marina's eyes widened with realization as she watched her best friend move towards the bully. "Violet, don't—!"

**_SLAP!_ **

The sound reverberated across the courtyard, bringing everyone else's eyes to the confrontation as a small red mark formed across Josiah's cheek, left by Violet's still-raised hand. Both Danny and Marina were frozen as they looked with unbelieving expressions to their friend, who was glancing from Josiah to her hand with equal surprise, unable to process how she'd just done what she had.

Josiah's expression was one of ultimate shock as he looked to the girl who'd struck him. But before long, his face turned cross as he began pacing towards her.

"You bitch..." he uttered as he advanced, his energy paralyzing her with every inch he drew closer, before slamming a hand against the wall beside her head, trapping her.

Danny found his strength again and stood up, but was blocked off from approaching Josiah by his three goons. Marina remained rooted where she stood, powerless to do anything as she watched the bully close in on her best friend.

"I usually make it a point not to go after girls," he said, before reaching his other hand hand out to grab her wrist. "But it looks like I'm going to have to make an exception today."

Violet shut her eyes with panic. She was unable to free herself from Josiah's grip, much less stop him from whatever he was about to do...

"Get the _hell_ away from her."

Startled, Josiah released Violet at the sound of the stern voice from the edge of the sidewalk, before he and everyone else in the courtyard turned to look where it had come from: the young man walking onto the school grounds looked to be 18 years old, and stood at 5'10" wearing an open, black duster over a tattered black shirt. His lower half was dressed in black pants held up with a brown belt, a leather holster around his waist and black boots adorning his feet. The young man's dirty-blonde hair just reached past the bottom of his neck, and his bangs hid his eyes from view as he strode towards them.

Josiah shot the stranger an irritated look. "And who the hell do you think you are, telling me what to do?"

Violet, Danny, and Marina went wide-eyed as they looked to the stranger, not so oblivious to his identity as Josiah was. But his clothes, and the longer hair... how could this possibly be who they thought it was?

The stranger stopped about ten feet away from them, everyone's eyes fixed on him. Violet could feel her heart throbbing, her eyes unable to look away from the man in black, who let out a shorthanded chuckle at Josiah's retort.

"Josiah Sullivan," he finally said as he shifted his head slightly, his hair parting to reveal oceanic eyes. "Still the same pathetic bully as before, I see."

The three friends' faces lit with shock at the sight of the stranger's eyes as all the color seemed to drain from Josiah's cheeks, like he'd come face-to-face with a ghost.

"M-m-m-Mike...!" he stammered as he took a step backwards. "I-I th-I thought you were—?!"

"Dead?" Mike finished, his tone monotonous. "Sorry, far from it I'm afraid."

Josiah growled at this sardonic response. "Where the hell have you been all this time?!"

"I don't see why I owe _you_ any explanation," was Mike's answer.

Danny and Marina moved over to stand with Violet as they quivered with excitement. The latter especially could hardly believe what she was witnessing: Mike was really here— _alive_ —standing before her again. But at the same time, she suddenly had the feeling that there was something... _off_ about him. She could not tell if it was just how he looked now, or how he carried himself, or in his voice, but his presence no longer registered to her as the same boy she'd known her whole life. Rather, it felt as though he had returned as someone else—or _something_ else.

Finally, Mike shifted his eyes to meet the gazes of his friends. "We'll catch up later, I promise," he assured them.

All they could think to do was give him a nod of understanding, before Mike brought his attention back to his old rival. "I have to admit, I never thought you'd let yourself sink so low, Josiah," he spoke coldly. "Putting your hands on a girl like that."

Josiah scoffed. "I could always put my hands on _you_ , if you'd prefer."

Mike smirked. "Figures you'd rather resort to fighting this out," he retorted. "Since you never could hold a candle to me in duel."

Low murmurs of "Ooooohhhh," were heard across the spectating students, prompting Josiah's frown to morph into a scowl. "Well, how about we change that?" he said as he raised his duel disk. "I'll finally give you the ass-kicking you deserve right now!"

Mike remained silent for a moment before reaching to his side, pulling from the holster on his hip what looked like a large revolver, causing everyone else to take an alarmed step back at the sight of the apparent firearm. But what he did with it next was unexpected: he held the barrel of the gun to his left arm, where a metal strap protruded and wrapped around his wrist. The muzzle expanded and slid backwards, revealing a deck of Duel Monsters cards inside. At the same time, a small piece of metal emerged from the top of the barrel, which then split itself and expanded to create five monster, spell, and trap card zones.

"It's been a long time since I've put you in your place," Mike mused as he drew five cards. "Guess it's about time I fixed that."

Upon realizing what the revolver-shaped device was, Josiah's expression returned to its cocky grin before he stepped onto the walkway to face Mike. "Come and try!" he shot back.

His duel disk activated, allowing him to draw five cards of his own before he and Mike simultaneously cried out, "LET'S DUEL!"

** \- DUEL - **

**[Mike - LP: 4000] VS [Josiah - LP: 4000]**

"Since you only just got back," Josiah said with false civility, "I think I'll let you take the first move!"

"Your funeral," Mike returned as he drew his first card. "I'll start by summoning my Constellar Algiedi!" **[LV: 4/ATK: 1600]**

"Then I'll activate Algiedi's effect! When it's summoned, I can special summon another level 4 Constellar monster from my hand, so I'll call on Constellar Pollux!" **[LV: 4/ATK: 1700]**

"Next, I'll activate a continuous spell card: Constellar Star Chart, which'll come in handy for me later," he went on. "In the meantime, I'll now overlay my level 4 Constellars Algiedi and Pollux to build the overlay network!"

His two monsters morphed into orbs of bright light, which were then absorbed into a spatial portal that burst with energy as a new creature emerged from it. "Xyz summon!" Mike cried out. "Pummel all who stand in your way, Constellar Praesepe!" **[RK: 4/OUs: 2/ATK: 2400]**

Everyone's jaws dropped as they marveled at this new monster. "Constellars...?" Danny said with confusion. "I don't remember Mike ever owning cards like that before."

"Me neither," Marina admitted. "Guess his deck's gone through some changes."

"Yeah," Violet agreed. "But I have to wonder if that's not _all_ that's changed about him..."

Danny and Marina both turned to their friend with surprise. They had always figured that if Mike ever managed to return home, Violet would have been the most ecstatic of all of them. But the expression on her face seemed more troubled than anything else, as though his sudden return and partaking in this duel had left an immovable weight in her gut, but why was beyond their comprehension.

Meanwhile, though Josiah had been somewhat taken aback by Mike's play, he quickly recovered his game face. "So you've got yourself some new cards! Is that supposed to scare me or something?"

"Not yet," replied Mike. "For now, my Constellar Star Chart's effect activates, allowing me to draw one card whenever I successfully Xyz summon a Constellar monster!"

Josiah watched as he added another card to his hand before saying, "I'll finish up by setting two cards face-down. Now let's see what you've got."

"With pleasure!" Josiah said smugly. "I draw!"

He scanned his hand for a moment before curling his lips into a sinister smile. "I think I'll start by activating the effect of my Elder of the Six Samurai in my hand! While you control monsters and I don't, I can special summon him to my field in DEF mode!" **[LV: 3/DEF: 0]**

"Then I'll call on my Kagemusha of the Six Samurai tuner monster!" **[LV: 2/ATK: 400]**

"And with these two monsters on the field, I'll now tune my level 2 Kagemusha to my level 3 Elder!" he exclaimed as the tuner monster became two rings of emerald energy, which enveloped the other monster that became three balls of bright light, all of which was then enveloped by a pillar of brilliant light.

"Synchro summon!" Josiah cried out as his new monster emerged from the light. "Emerge from the shadows of myth, Legendary Six Samurai - Shi En!" **[LV: 5/ATK: 2500]**

"Damn it, not this early in the duel..." Danny muttered with unease.

Mike, however, appeared unfazed by the sight of this monster as Josiah continued: "Since I control at least one other Six Samurai, I can special summon my Legendary Six Samurai - Kizan from my hand!" **[LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And now, I think I'll launch my onslaught on your Constellar Praesepe!" Josiah said as he pointed to Mike's monster. "Shi En, attack with Serrated Sword Slash!"

The armored warrior made a lightning-swift dash towards Mike's monster, prompting Mike to raise a hand as he countered, "I activate Constellar Praesepe's effect! By detaching one of his overlay units—" **[OUs: 2** → **1]** "—I can increase the ATK power of a Constellar monster that's battling, like himself, by 1000 points! Star Absorption!" **[ATK: 2400** → **3400]**

Everyone watched as Josiah's Legendary Six Samurai Synchro got pushed back with a punch from Praesepe. Josiah, however, remained calm as he retorted, "You can't destroy my Shi En so easily! With his effect, he can have my Kizan take the fall for him instead!"

"But you'll still take the damage!" Mike reminded him as Kizan rushed forward to defend Shi En, intercepting Praesepe's second blow before exploding with a pained groan. **[Josiah - LP: 4000** → **3100]**

Josiah growled. "I'll set two cards of my own face-down, and leave it at that," he concluded. **[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 3400** → **2400]**

"Back to me, then," Mike said as he drew his next card, looking from it to the heavily-armored monster on Josiah's side of the field. "I'll start by activating another continuous spell, Constellar Belt! So long as I control this card, my LIGHT-attribute monsters are unable to have their effects negated!"

"I don't think so!" Josiah said as he pointed to his lone warrior. "My Shi En's effect can negate and destroy any spell or trap card you activate once per turn!"

Shi En dashed over to Mike's side field once again, katana in hand, and sliced through the spell Mike had played in the blink of an eye.

But as Mike watched the warrior return to Josiah's side of the field, his expression remained unalarmed. "I enter my battle phase; and use my Praesepe's effect to detach its last overlay unit, and gain 1000 ATK!" **[ATK: 2400** → **3400]**

"Now attack his Shi En with Cosmic Thrash!" Mike declared, prompting his monster to charge towards Josiah's Shi En.

But as it did so, Josiah's hand raised over his set card as he said, "I reveal my trap card, Sakuretsu Armor! So say goodbye to your Constellar Praesepe!"

Though the golden mech's blow landed on Shi En's armor, the impact instead seemed to cause its own fist to crack all the way down its arm, eventually shattering the monster.

On the sidelines, Danny, Marina, and Violet's eyebrows all rose. "What was Mike thinking?" Marina questioned. "He walked _right_ into Josiah's trap!"

"I wouldn't be so sure," Danny said, gaining both Marina's and Violet's attention. "Something tells me he's got a little more to his strategy than this."

Josiah clearly didn't see it this way, as he couldn't help but laugh at how Mike had sprung his trap. "Man, you're not nearly as good as you used to be!" he taunted. "Seems like you've gotten careless over the last couple years!"

"Careless, you say?"

Josiah's brow furrowed before Mike explained: "You should know, I was expecting you to counter with some sort of trap. But I attacked anyway because even if you _did_ , it wouldn't have mattered.

"But talk is cheap," Mike continued as he flipped his own set card. "So now, I'll reveal my Xyz Reborn trap! This card revives any Xyz monster in my graveyard, and then attaches itself to that monster as an overlay unit!

"So be reborn!" Mike cried out as the gold-clad machination rematerialized before him, "Constellar Praesepe!" **[RK: 4/OUs: 0** → **1/ATK: 2400]**

"Now let's try this again!" Mike declared. "Praesepe, detach your last overlay unit—" **[OUs: 2** → **1]** "—to gain 1000 ATK and finish his Shi En off! Starstruck Smash!" **[ATK: 2400** → **3400]**

Praesepe crossed over to Josiah's field, where it punched Josiah's warrior into the ground, crushing him into the asphalt before erupting in an explosion. **[Josiah - LP: 3100** → **2200]**

Josiah fumed. So far, he hadn't managed to land a single blow to Mike's life points, while the latter seemed to have a way around everything he'd thrown at him so far.

 _Doesn't help that he knows my whole deck while I'm left to guess at what he's got up his sleeve,_ Josiah figured to himself.

 _But then again... there is ONE card I have that can turn things back in my favor,_ he figured, his gleeful smirk returning as he looked to his deck. _You better brace yourself for what's coming next, Mike!_

He brought his attention back to the duel as his opponent wrapped up: "I'll end my turn by setting two more cards face-down. Your move, Josiah." **[Constellar Praesepe - ATK: 3400** → **2400]**

"All right, then!" Josiah exclaimed as he drew, brimming with renewed energy as he looked at the new card in his hand maliciously.

"I'll start by playing my Six Samurai United continuous spell!" he said, "which means that every time Six Samurai monsters are summoned to my field, I can place a Bushido Counter on it!

"I'll then follow that up by revealing my Double-Edged Sword Technique trap!" he continued as his other set card flipped. "With it, I can revive two Six Samurai monsters that are sleeping in my graveyard! So my Shi En and Kagemusha both come back!"

Both Shi en and Kagemusha burst from their graves before Josiah, their lives restored as they stared Mike's Praesepe down with vengeful glares. **[LV: 5/ATK: 2500] [LV: 2/ATK: 400] [Six Samurai United - Bushido Counters: 0** → **1]**

"And now, since I control at least one Six Samurai monster," Josiah continued, "I can special summon Grandmaster of the Six Samurai from my hand!" **[LV: 5/ATK: 2100] [Six Samurai United - Bushido Counters: 1** → **2]**

"Next, I'll tune my level 2 Kagemusha to my level 5 Grandmaster!" Josiah said as the creatures came together as emerald rings and white spheres, creating another pillar of light. "Synchro summon! Wreak havoc upon your enemies, Driven Daredevil!" **[LV: 7/ATK: 2400]**

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Danny exclaimed as he eyed this new warrior with loathing. "Josiah only brings that guy out when he wants to _punish_ his opponents."

Though he said nothing, Mike shared Danny's sentiment. Driven Daredevil was incapable of being destroyed by battle by monsters with higher ATK than it, and any monster that tried to battle it was automatically destroyed after the fact anyway. He would either need to find a way to rid it from the field with an effect, or overpower it with a monster of significant ATK to wipe out his remaining life points all at once.

Josiah went on: "Now I'll use the effect of my Six Samurai United, and send it to the graveyard with two Bushido Counters on it to draw one card for each of them!"

He dealt his extra cards, his evil grin only widening at the sight of his pulls before pointing to Mike's Praesepe. "Now, I'll have my Shi En take his vengeance against your Constellar Praesepe!"

As Shi En took up his sword and dashed towards Praesepe, Mike flipped another set card: "I reveal my Impenetrable Attack trap! This card will keep my Praesepe from being destroyed in battle!"

"Idiot!" Josiah shot back. "Don't you remember that my Shi En can negate one of your spell or trap cards once per turn?!"

Sparks dashed through Mike's trap card before it faded away while Shi En continued to slash through Praesepe like a knife through butter, earning a mechanical groan from the creature before it exploded in a large cloud of dust. **[Mike - LP: 4000** → **3900]**

"Actually, I _did_ remember," Mike retorted as he then triggered his other set card. "That's why I played it, so you couldn't counter this: my Constellar Meteor!

"This trap sends any monster that battled a Constellar monster and survived back to the deck!" he explained. "Or, in the case of your Shi En, it'll return to your extra deck!"

Shi En faded away with a confused groan, leaving Josiah to ball his free hand into a fist. "I'll teach you to show me up...!" he uttered furiously. "Driven Daredevil, attack Mike directly with Dauntless Revenge!"

The war-torn warrior took up his swords and launched himself at Mike, but as he did Josiah added, "And to make sure this hurts good, I'll boost his ATK power with my Ego Boost quick-play spell, giving him another 1000 ATK during my battle phase!" **[ATK: 2400** → **3400]**

Mike had only enough time for his eyes to widen before Josiah's Daredevil drove both of his long blades through his chest. He staggered backwards, wincing as his life points dwindled before the warrior returned to his own field. **[Mike - LP: 3900** → **500]**

"Mike!" Violet finally cried out to him.

Mike glanced to her as he held his footing, giving a short nod to let her know he was okay. She reciprocated with a nod of her own before Mike rose back to full height, watching as Josiah snickered at his move's success.

"Well, look how the tables have turned!" he called out to him. "Looks like _you're_ the one who can't hold a candle to my Driven Daredevil!"

But Josiah's bravado elicited no reaction from Mike. He just stood there, unmoving as he stared into his opponent's eyes, as though he were gazing straight into his mind and examining all of his inner workings to find a weakness he could exploit.

"It's like he has ice in his blood," Marina muttered as she shifted uncomfortably. "Kind of creepy..."

"Yeah," Danny agreed. "I've never seen him so calm after taking a blow like that."

Meanwhile, Josiah's smirk was turning into an annoyed frown due to Mike's lack of reaction. "What's that look for, huh?" he shot at him. "Can't stand that I finally managed to cut away at your life points?"

Mike remained silent.

Josiah's brow knit with even more frustration before his lips curled back into his malicious smile. "Oh, I know..." he said. "I'll bet you're finally starting to realize that I'm just _that_ much better than you now, right? Even after disappearing for two years and coming back with an all-new deck, you've only become more pitiful than you were the day that you left!"

"Are you done? I'm sick of listening to you run your mouth."

Josiah's eyes lit up with fury at Mike's retort, before the latter continued: "I didn't even plan on running into you when I came here today, much less _dueling_ you. So either make a move and shove the incessant monologuing, or just end your turn."

At this, his friends on the sidelines felt their hearts drop. Even on Josiah's worst days, Mike had always tempered himself from lashing out in any form, under threat of the nuns at his orphanage retracting his privilege of attending public school. So hearing this callous, unforgiving tone in his voice was jarring enough that Danny and Marina were convinced that Violet really had sensed something different about him earlier...

Meanwhile, though Josiah had also been thrown by Mike's uncharacteristic jab, he managed to maintain his composure. "I'll finish up with one more card face-down," he said spitefully. "That's all for me." **[Driven Daredevil - ATK: 3400** → **2400]**

"About time," Mike said as he drew once more. "I'll start by revealing my last set card, Call Of The Haunted! With it, I can bring any monster that's sleeping in my graveyard back to the field in ATK mode! So I'll call back my Pollux!" **[LV: 4/ATK: 1700]**

"Then, I'll summon my Constellar Kaus to join him!" **[LV: 4/ATK: 1800]**

"And with his effect," Mike explained, "I can either increase or decrease the levels of any Constellar monster by 1 up to _twice_ per turn! So I'll use this effect to bring both his and Pollux's levels up by 1!" **[Constellar Kaus - LV: 4** → **5] [Constellar Pollux - LV: 4** → **5]**

"With those set, I'll now overlay them to build the overlay network one more time!" Mike said as another spatial portal opened, absorbing both monsters before a new warrior emerged. "Xyz summon! Raise your blade, Constellar Pleiades!" **[RK: 5/OUs: 2/ATK: 2500]**

Josiah's teeth grit at the sight of this monster. From the looks of things, Mike seemed to have already formulated a way to overthrow his Driven Daredevil; and there was no doubt in his mind that this Pleiades was a key player in Mike's strategy to do so.

Luckily for him, he had just the card to keep Mike's warrior at bay: "I reveal my continuous trap, Shadow Spell!"

At the trap's activation, a number of black chains broke through the concrete beneath Mike's Pleiades, each one wrapping around the star-studded warrior from various angles, binding him to the ground.

"Not only does this card keep your monster from attacking," Josiah explained, "but it also drains him of 700 ATK points!" **[Constellar Pleiades - ATK: 2500** → **1800]**

"Now your last hope for victory has been sealed away," Josiah chastised as his most sadistic smirk appeared on his face. "And just weak enough so that, when my Driven Daredevil attacks next turn, it'll finish off the last of your life points! This duel's over, Mike!"

Concern took over the expressions of Violet, Danny, and Marina as they looked to their friend, believing that, for the first time, Josiah might have finally managed to outplay Mike. But as their eyes set on him, they came to find that, much like he'd been throughout the duel, he was still unnervingly calm in the face of this adversity.

He then raised a pointed finger to one of the other remaining cards on his field: "I activate the effect of my Constellar Star Chart: with my Pleiades' successful summoning, I'm allowed to draw one more card."

Violet, Danny, Marina, Josiah, and the other spectating students held their breaths as Mike drew his final card of the duel. And the moment he saw what he'd drawn, he smiled.

"I activate my Pleiades' effect," he said. "By detaching one of his overlay units—" **[OUs: 2** → **1]** "—he can send any card on the field back to its owner's hand; like your Shadow Spell!"

"He can _what?!_ " Josiah cried out with panic as Mike's warrior swung his large sword to his front, striking at the shackles that bound him with a force so strong they shattered before dissipating. **[Constellar Pleiades - ATK: 1800** → **2500]**

"And then I'll activate the equip spell, Megamorph, and equip it to my Pleiades!" Mike carried on. "So since my life points are lower than yours, his original ATK strength is _doubled!_ " **[Constellar Pleiades - ATK: 2500** → **5000]**

Josiah's face paled as he realized what this meant, while Mike made his final declaration: "Guess you were right about this duel being over, Josiah! Constellar Pleiades, destroy his Driven Daredevil with Cosmic Saber Strike!"

Constellar Pleiades took up his large sword and charged at the opposing warrior, who charged in to meet Pleiades' attack head-on, their blades clanging against each other. But Josiah's warrior was the one to be pushed back, before being impaled in the chest by Pleiades' blade with an outcry of pain before shattering into nothingness. **[Josiah - LP: 2200** → **0]**

** \- DUEL OVER - **

**[Winner: Mike]**

The moment sank into the spectators as the two duelists' disks deactivated, with Mike's Pleiades fading away from the field and Josiah sinking to his knees in defeat. Within seconds, his group of lackeys had ran up to circle around him.

"Yo, Josiah!" everyone heard them crying out. "Are you all right—?!"

"Get AWAY from me!" Josiah roared, silencing his gang and prompting them to back away from him as he brought himself back to his feet, glaring daggers at Mike.

"How..." he uttered, brokenly. "How the _hell_ could I lose to you _again_...?"

"Because you don't know what it means to fight for something; or someone," was Mike's answer as he stared back at Josiah coldly. "You've only ever dueled to bully and break anyone vulnerable enough for your own sick amusement.

"And anyone who duels only to make others suffer," his tone turned deadly serious, "doesn't deserve to call themselves a duelist."

Josiah remained silent for a moment as he and Mike exchanged long, hard stares. Then, without another word, he turned and began marching down the walkway, passing his fellow students and Mike before reaching the sidewalk, breaking into a sprint away from the school as his gang hollered after him.

Mike kept his eyes fixed on Josiah's departure as his friends made their way over to him, Danny being the first to give a low whistle. "Man, I don't know where you've been all this time," he said to his old friend, "but you gotta tell me where you learned to duel like that! That was awesome!"

Mike's eyes flickered towards his friends for a moment, before he turned and started following the direction Josiah had gone, back towards the city as his friends' eyes widened with confusion.

"Hey, Mike?!" Danny called after him. "Where ya goin'?!"

"He's seriously not just _leaving_ again, is he...?" Marina wondered.

But Violet couldn't let that happen: "Mike, wait!" she cried out, running after him and catching him by the arm, bringing him to a halt.

He remained still for a moment, feeling her hand trembling as it gripped him. And he couldn't blame her: he had only _just_ come back into her life, and now it looked like he was about to leave again.

"Violet," he said as he pulled away from her. "Bring the others to the usual spot after school. I'll meet you there."

Without another word, he continued pacing towards the city, leaving Violet to notice a disturbing detail she hadn't before: the back of his black duster was riddled with what looked like _bullet holes_.

 _Mike..._ Violet wondered with horror as she brought a hand over her mouth, _what happened to you...?_

* * *

**_ \- Two Years Ago - _ **

The desert wind howled as it scattered sand through the air, making it difficult for the young man to see as he dredged through the desert, fighting against the gusts.

He was dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt with sleeves rolled past his forearms, along with faded jeans held up with a belt, a deck case attached to it behind him. His black sneakers felt as though they were melting from absorbing the combined heat of the sun and the sand.

The young man's dirty-blonde hair was cut short, but still had some body to it. His oceanic eyes had never looked as weary as they did at that moment. His body was exhausted, and his throat was parched and dry, every step he took feeling like another day to his tired mind.

Mike had been walking nonstop like this for three days since he'd woken in his bed at the orphanage that early morning. Without warning, the X-shaped scar on his arm that he'd had since he was a child had awoken him with a sharp, stinging sensation; possessing him as if with a will of its own that commanded him to break out of his orphanage and sneak out of the city to trek towards an unknown destination in the desert.

Now, he began to feel the scar's sting again—more intensely than before, causing him to grasp it. The pain hadn't been this bad since he'd started his wayward journey, making him wonder if he'd somehow wandered off the path it wanted him to follow.

As the thought crossed his mind, his eyes suddenly spotted a distinct shape in the distance: it looked to be a man standing motionless in the sandy wind, as though he were awaiting Mike's arrival.

Perhaps this was who he was being drawn towards. "Hey...!" he croaked, pushing himself to try and reach the man faster, his body aching with every agonizing step he took as the scar's sting continued to climb in severity.

But it was no use: his vision was beginning to blur worse, and the last of his strength was fading. "Help me... please...!" he choked desperately, his voice barely cutting through the escalating winds.

He only managed to drag himself another few feet closer to the figure, to no avail. The stinging from his scar suddenly soared to a new height, causing every nerve in his body to feel as though they'd caught fire. It was only a matter of moments before he reached his limit, his body shutting down on him before he collapsed in the sand. From there, the last thing he saw was the figure approaching him, the only features he could make out being dark boots and a long coat before falling out of consciousness.

**Author's Note:**

> Yo, ThatLoneAvenger here. Wanted to say thank you for checking out my all-original Yu-Gi-Oh! story, Mark of Death. If you've enjoyed what you've read so far, perhaps consider adding it to your collections! And if nothing else, PLEASE leave a comment, even a line or two of thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Hearing feedback is the best motivator for me, and helps make the fact that I've put 5+ years' worth of my free time plotting this story out feel a little more worthwhile.
> 
> Okay, now to address the things that y'all ought to know going forward:
> 
> \- Duel Monsters in this story follows a blended ruleset between the anime and real-world TCG/OCG. I'm not following any ban lists either, so note that I may/may not use a card that is/has been banned. This story is also categorized as Arc-V for the use of all cards up until the VRAINS era.
> 
> \- The first few duels in this story were written BEFORE the applied changes to the Master Rules of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG in June of 2014. So to avoid needing to go back and modifying the duels to that format's rules, this story's duels will be following the prior rulings up to a certain point. So for those of you who're going "you can't draw on the first turn!" in your reviews right now, there's my rebuttal.
> 
> \- This story will actually be the first site to see the remastered versions of chapters 1-11 from this story's run on FanFiction.net, so if you want to read ahead and/or see the original versions, you can check them out under my profile on there. 
> 
> Last but not least, if you spot any major writing or duel errors in my work, please let me know via comment or DM, and I'll get straight to work on fixing them ASAP.
> 
> Thanks again for reading, and stay awesome.


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